Deal ignites furious comeback as Govs take down Spearfish

SPEARFISH, S.D. — The Pierre Governor football team proved again Friday night that they might be down, but they’re never out. The Spearfish Spartans streaked out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter of play and looked like everything was going to go their way. The slow start for the Govs began with bus trouble that ultimately forced a one hour delay to the start of the game. While the Spartans started fast, the Governor offense sputtered. Then injury was added to insult when Pierre lost running back Carter Merrill with an apparent significant lower leg injury. The Govs needed a spark, not to mention, someone to step in for Merrill in running the football, and they found their next weapon in sophomore quarterback Jerren Deal. Deal engineered a pair of second quarter scoring drives, ending them both with 10- and 12-yard rushing touchdowns to cut the score to 21-14. An Ayden Behm interception then gave Pierre a chance to finish the half with a 31-yard field goal for a 21-17 halftime deficit. The momentum continued in the second half as Deal scored again from 41 yards out and also connected on long scoring pass plays to Carter Schiefelbein and Cooper Terwilliger. The Governors scored 38 unanswered points before the Spartans would find the end zone again in the fourth quarter. Pierre immediately responded to slam the door as Deal scampered for a 72-yard touchdown for the final scoring play. Unofficially, Deal ran for 232 yards and four scores, and also threw for 232 and two more touchdowns. The Governors rolls for about 570 total yards, essentially in the final three quarters. Pierre improves to 5-3 on the season and will wrap up their regular season with a home matchup with the Douglas Patriots on Thursday. Kickoff will be at 6:00 PM with coverage on RIVER 92-7 and DRGnews.com/river.